Olivia Awbrey - Don't Be Alarmed

Like any good rock act from the Pacific Northwest, Olivia Awbrey puts the noise guitar first, and central, which I have always understood as an unconscious respect for the constant threat of rain. Never more than here; she underscores it with a dance-room vocal hook, and then gets to work making some sense of everything.

Don’t be alarmed by anything at allyou’re doing right by acting helpless.Do not question how this all works out...

— Olivia Awbrey

Whether or not the human race really was made to burn like bacon becomes an afterthought; it's value as a lyric supersedes any allegiance to verifiable truth. This whole song works on that premise. It sounds folk and punk enough to not need any big explanation; it's personal, it's political, it's life.

And it rocks.

Olivia Awbrey is a folk-punk artist from Portland, OR. This song is featured on our Roots Collection playlist.